Chancellor Angela Merkel made an
unannounced visit to German troops in Afghanistan amid
heightened tensions after a U.S. soldier killed 16 Afghan
villagers in a rampage in the south of the country.

Merkel arrived early today and visited a base in the
northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, where a portion of Germany’s
4,715 troops are stationed, the chancellery in Berlin said.
Television pictures showed her in a military plane and meeting
troops on the ground. A planned trip to Kunduz in the north was
canceled because of inclement weather.

Merkel offered Afghan President Hamid Karzai condolences on
behalf of Germany for the U.S. soldier’s act, the chancellery
said on customary condition of anonymity. NATO forces will do
everything possible to investigate the killings, Merkel told the
Afghan leader in a phone call from the German base.

The massacre in the southern province of Kandahar threatens
to raise tensions with western troops and anti-American protests
weeks after a Koran-burning incident triggered violence. The
North Atlantic Treaty Organization plans to hand over security
of the country to Afghan forces by 2014.

During the troop visit, Merkel said that Afghan forces
aren’t yet in a position to take over and placed the 2014
deadline in question, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported.

“So I can’t yet say whether we’ll manage it by 2013-
2014,” DPA, which has a reporter traveling with the chancellor,
quoted her as saying. “The will is there; we want to do it. So
we’re working on it.”

Fourth Visit

Merkel, who is on her fourth visit to Afghanistan as
chancellor, told Karzai that Germany will draft a partnership
agreement with Afghanistan this month that will lay out
cooperation between the two countries after the current mission
ends.

Merkel also took part in a memorial service for German
soldiers killed during the decade-long mission. Germany’s
contingent is the third-largest behind the U.S. and U.K.

President Barack Obama called Karzai “to express his shock
and sadness” and pledged “to hold fully accountable anyone
responsible,” according to a White House statement.

Women and children were among those killed in yesterday’s
attack in the villages of Najib Yan and Alokozai in Kandahar’s
Panjwayi district. The soldier walked back to his base after the
killings and turned himself in, said Brigadier General Carsten
Jacobson, spokesman for the NATO-led coalition.